This application claims priority of Japanese Application No. 2001-294799, filed Sep. 26, 2001, the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a manual magnetic card reader and a method of reading magnetic data. More specifically, the present invention relates to a manual magnetic card reader in which a user inserts and removes a card by hand and a method of reading magnetic data.
b) Description of the Related Art
Manual magnetic card readers are roughly divided into two types: one in which a magnetic strip moves with respect to a magnetic head as a card runs through a card-passing groove in the card reader, to read recording data; another in which a magnetic strip moves with respect to a magnetic head as a card is inserted at a card inlet provided to the card reader, pushed in deep, and pulled out by user""s hand, to read recording data.
FIG. 3 illustrates a manual magnetic card reader of the latter type. In the manual magnetic card reader, a recess portion 102 is formed so that a card 101 can be pushed deep inside by hand. A magnetic head 103 is arranged on a side of the recess portion 102 so that magnetic data can be read as the card 101 moves during the insertion.
However, if the card 101 is held in a wrong position, a user may change the holding position of the card 101 when inserting the card 101. In such a case, the card 101 is completely stopped while the magnetic head 103 is still reading the data. Consequently a reading error occurs. Further, a user may forget to remove the card 101 after the insertion.
For these reasons, a manual magnetic card reader in which magnetic data is read by using the movement of the card 101 during card removal has been developed. A flowchart in FIG. 4 shows the steps of reading magnetic data in a magnetic strip 104 of the card 101 by a manual magnetic card reader of this kind. First, card 101 is inserted (Step 1); the completion of the card 101 insertion is detected (Step 2; Yes); the card 101 removal is expected. When the beginning of the card 101 removal is detected (Step 3), magnetic data is read (Step 4). As the removal of the card 101 is completed (Step 5; Yes), the magnetic data is edited (Step 6) and the reading result (the magnetic data) is reported to a host (Step 7).
However, because the above-mentioned manual magnetic card reader reads magnetic data by using the movement of the card 101 during the card removal, if the card removing movement is temporarily sustained while the card 101 is being removed or if the removing speed is considerably changed, a part of the data may be wrongly read from the magnetic strip 104. In this case, since it is determined that the magnetic data is abnormal, the card 101 needs to be inserted and removed again. Thus, the operation becomes troublesome and problematic.
An object of the present invention is to provide a manual magnetic card reader and a method of reading magnetic data by which, even when a reading error occurs during the card removal, magnetic data can be read without repetition of insertion/removal operations.
To achieve the above object, in a manual magnetic card reader that allows a card with a magnetic strip to be inserted in a card insert slot to a card stop position and then allows the card to be removed, the invention comprises a magnetic head for reading magnetic data recorded in the magnetic strip, a data editing portion for editing the magnetic data, and a saving buffer for saving the magnetic data of the card during card insertion, wherein the magnetic data is read and saved in the saving buffer during the card insertion and the magnetic data is also read during card removal.
Also, in accordance with the invention, a method of reading magnetic data of a card, used in a manual magnetic card reader that allows a card with a magnetic strip to be inserted in a card insert slot to a card stop position and then allows the card to be removed, the method comprises that the magnetic data is read and saved during card insertion and the data is also read during card removal; when the magnetic data can be read during the card removal, that magnetic data is used as reading data; when the magnetic data cannot be read during the card removal, the magnetic data that is read during the card insertion is used as reading data.
Thus, since the magnetic data is read during the card insertion and saved in the saving buffer, even if the magnetic data cannot be read during the card removal, the loss of the magnetic data, which is caused during the card removal, can be complemented by the reading data that is saved in the saving buffer during the card insertion. In other words, the data that is read most recently is used as the reading result. Consequently the repetition of card insertion/removal can be greatly reduced.